News

Elba City Council votes to fill vacancy on Elba School Board

The Elba City Council filled out the school board membership Monday evening, July 9, with the appointment of Maria Nelson to complete an unexpired term.
Nelson will fill the final year of the vacancy created by the resignation of Abdel Bilal. The vote to appoint her, recommended by District 1 Councilman Tom Hooks, was unanimous.
Bills totaling $173,448.71 were approved for payment. This total is all-inclusive, including payroll deductions, venders, health insurance, bank payments, landfill, gasoline, etc.
Payments to the retirement systems of Alabama totaled $14,161.54 for the month.
The City has also begun paying the school system payments on the $150,000 plus of back collected sales taxes from several years ago. This month’s check was for $6,000.
The cost of gas and oil for the month was $16,865.79 while landfill charges totaled $9,217.36. It cost $20,523 this month to keep the employee health insurance active and the monthly payment on the street sweeper is $28,872.54.
Council members were given a revised copy of the proposed Mobile Home Park requirements to review. These will be presented for approval at the next council meeting.
The City has also received a request for permission to construct an RV park within the city limits, on what is now city owned property. The Elba Zoning Board has recommended a set of requirements for such a park. It includes a minimum of 10 parking sites and a 14-day limit on each stay.
No action has been taken on the expressed need for a new garbage truck, in spite of it being on the agenda for a couple of months. Two weeks ago the council members failed to second two separate motions designed to move the project forward. One of the failed motions was to purchase the fully automatic unit and the other supported the semi-automatic garbage pick up unit.
Now the council will hold a workshop prior to the July 23rd council meeting to discuss this issue. The workshop will begin at 4:30 p.m.
At that time they are expected to have an informal offer from a private contractor to take over the garbage pick up. If the council decides to go back to the private contractor operated garbage service, they will have to advertise for bids before awarding a contract.
Police Chief Freddy Hanchey reports continuing progress on getting abandoned vehicles removed. He said about 30 people have been cited and some have begun moving the vehicles.
Hanchey said that two new Elba police officers are graduating from the police academy on July 26th.